In the most recent monthly Bureau Labor Statistics report, the number of truck transportation jobs vacillated in what could only be described as “an up-and-down affair.”  In June, total jobs in the truck transportation sector “declined by 200 jobs from May, according to the BLS, coming in at 1,609,700 jobs on a seasonally adjusted basis.”  But this number was an adjusted figure for May, “which was an increase of 700 jobs from the initial May employment report.” The April jobs went on to be revised upward by 100 jobs as well.  Read more…

The Supreme Court ruled against unionized drivers “in a dispute about the pressure that organized labor can exert during a strike,” specifically “against unionized drivers who walked off the job with their trucks full of wet concrete.” Both liberal and conservative justices united in the decision, with lone dissenter, Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson, claiming “the ruling would hinder the development of labor law and ‘erode the right to strike.’”  Read more…

The Conversion Interactive Agency and People Data Analytics (PDA) conducted a new survey that has shed light on the current state of truck driving jobs and how today’s market conditions are affecting drivers.  Key takeaways include the fact that “truck driver job seekers have decreased since the Fall 2022 Driver Survey,” with this number being down 6% from the previous Fall survey, and a little over 3% from the Spring Survey. The survey goes on to add that “33.8% of drivers that stated they are currently looking for a truck driving job is the lowest since Conversion and PDA began asking this question in the Spring of 2021.”  Read more…

There is currently an ongoing demand for both truck drivers and back-office operations staff that supports them, despite the current freight recession. According to a recent article by Hilary Daninhirsch of Transport Topics, companies and brokerages are continuing to “require teams of dispatchers, load planners, logistics coordinators, and sales and administrative staff to manage their operations.” The article goes on to note how “trucking companies and brokerages are often behind the hiring curve for back-office and support staff, in part due to market variability.”  Read more…

The MTA will be given close to $400,000 in yearly funding from the Manitoba government over the next four years to help promote residents about jobs in the trucking industry, and support workforce training for those already in trucking. Aaron Dolyniuk, MTA executive director, said in a statement:  “Manitoba’s trucking industry needs to bring 4,300 drivers over the next four years into the industry to meet demand. That means we need to recruit, train, and retain a new driver in Manitoba every eight hours, every day, for the next four years,”   Read more…

California lawmakers put forth a high-profile bill that would ban the operation of heavy self-driving vehicles without a human on board. Assemblymember Cecilia Aguiar-Curry(D-Winters) exclaimed: “‘The callous disregard for these stewards of our highways and freeways, motivated by profit, is simply appalling. My motivation, on the other hand, is my commitment to Californians’ safety on the roads, and that safety is best protected by keeping well-trained human beings in the cab of 80,000 pound vehicles traveling at high speeds. When this industry proves to me, my colleagues, and our constituents that human-less trucking, and driverless school buses, are safer than our model in California, they will have the support to proceed’”. Read more…

Trucker Down, an organization that assists truck drivers and their families who are going through financial hardships, is set to hold a silent auction on Tuesday, May 23, in partnership with Dormie Network. There will be a plethora of exclusive memorabilia for auction, “ from an actual piece of coal that was recovered from the Titanic to exclusive vacation packages, autographed NFL gear and much more.” Read more…

Building from the “Phase 2” greenhouse gas standards established in 2016, the EPA “is proposing a new and stronger set of greenhouse standards for heavy-duty vehicles for model years 2027 and 2032.” Coming hot on the heels of the EPA’s new national clean air standards to decrease smog-and-soot forming emissions,  trucking professionals are decrying the move as a “regulatory blitz on small-business truckers.” Read more…

With 16,800 trailer units having been booked during March, preliminary trailer orders “decreased sequentially and were lower against longer-term comparisons,” though overall demand is solid, according to ACT Research. Jennifer Mcnealy, director of commercial vehicle market research and publications at ACT Research, claims: “orders pulling back in March is a month earlier than normal seasonality would suggest, but near record-level order backlogs are easy to point to in explaining away the earlier-than-expected deceleration.” Read more…

The Minnesota Trucking Association has launched “a coordinated, ongoing social media campaign to encourage young people and their parents, mid-career changers, womens, and under-represented populations to consider a career in the Minnesota trucking industry.” The impetus for the campaign was the fact that finding drivers and technicians had become a huge challenge for the state.  Read more…